This is a space for my own, personal musings. Possibly I shall, at a later date, connect this to my company's website (http://www.disabilitysolutions.co.za) & "official" blog(http://disabilitysolutions@blogspot.com). But for now, it remains my own private observations, distinct from Disability Solutions.

Wednesday, 12 May 2010

There has been a lot of nonsense, and unfounded allegations recently regarding some of the stadia built for the FIFA 2010 competition. The concert today clearly demonstrated to everyone that Cape Town Stadium is fully accessible to all.

Filia School is a special needs educational unit based in Goodwood. They had asked me if I knew of an accessible facility where they could hold their concert (see the post below). The City of Cape Town, and SAIL Stade de France (the stadium operators) kindly offered the stadium to be used free of charge. There were nearly 200 children with disabilities performing. The audience comprised a wide range of people, from different schools and different places from around the Western Cape. There were many people with disabilities in the audience, to enjoy the performance.

The concert could not have happened without some key individuals; Dave Hugo, from the City of Cape Town, Jean-Louis Romain & Wayne Dreyer, from SAIL Stade de France, Denise Robinson MP from Parliament, and of course the staff and learners at the school...who were amazing.

I was lucky enough to be able to see both the performers, and the audience, and there was a lot of emotion, from both sides. Looking at the excitement of the children as they prepared to perform in the very places where the World's top footballers will soon be playing was priceless (and put all the recent nonsense into place!). The audience were also moved, and there were several rather moist eyes at the very moving Nathional Anthem at the end of the concert.

Today was a very special day. For me, as the access consultant to the stadium, it was the pinnacle of 4 years work; to see the accessible stadium being used by performers where individual disabilities made no difference to their performance or enjoyment.

The intention was not supposed to be "just for people with disabilities"; our whole ethos is one of inclusion so "just for" runs counter to this. But the performers all had different disabilities - many of them severe, while the audience comprised of everyone. Several other (mainstream) schools, & just the general public.